Lyndale and Clayton on Saturday will embark on what is a truly memorable day for the Lyndale Football Club as they raise awareness for the Heart Kids Round
A matter close to Lyndale's Brendon Groenendyk and Nat Bradley, speaking on the SFNL Division 4 Footy Show this week, Groenendyk detailed the cause behind the match.
"We had our son three years ago and he's had four open heart surgeries, so it's something that is close to mine and my wife's heart. We also have a couple of others at the club that have gone through heart conditions.
It's just a great way to get it out there, and just raising awareness for new families that have to go through this and it's not what we want in life, and acceptance is the biggest thing. You just have to accept what's happened and run with it and bring awareness to everyone.
You still love, they're still kids!"
The Pumas will take on the second placed Clayton who have got on board with the cause themselves.
"Having Clayton being so supportive, and having Jaydo (Jayden Gilmour) and a few of the Clayton boys jump on as a sponsor on the back of the shirt has been really great," Groenendyk said.
Clayton's Christian MacRae said it was a privilege to be part of such a special day.
"We're really grateful to be a part of the day - there's always something bigger going on than just a game of football.
"An opportunity to play for something and to think of those that are less fortunate than we are, it's really a pleasure and opportunity to do that and we embrace that and look forward to being able to raise as much awareness and money as we can, because the kids are the future and we have to look out for them,"
Groenendyk encouraged those wide and far to come along with plenty of activities for the kids on the day.
"I've probably got a lot of people that dislike me at the moment for the amount of people I've asked for donations, but it doesn't bother me - the more the better for the kids," Groenendyk jokingly said.
"We've got jumping castles, face painting, we're really trying to get both Lyndale and Clayton to run out with some kids on the day and really make it about them,"
Lyndale take on Clayton with the women kicking off the action at 10:40AM on Saturday morning while the men take the field at 2:30PM
